Report: Ex-LA Coliseum exec had side deals

The Associated Press

A former events manager of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission made tens of thousands of dollars from side deals with companies that used the Coliseum or the Sports Arena, including Coca-Cola and TV show producers, it was reported Thursday.

Todd DeStefano runs two private companies, LAC Events and Private Event Management. Each paid him more than $100,000 last year, according to four years of state financial disclosure filings cited by the Los Angeles Times.

The companies were paid $10,000 or more by Coca-Cola last year - the same year DeStefano signed a contract giving the company the rights to sell its products at Coliseum events, the Times said.

However, he was not authorized to make such a deal, John Sandbrook, interim general manager of the Coliseum commission, told the Times.

Other payments of $10,000 or more came from Southern Wine & Spirits, the television show "American Gladiator," the production company for the movie "An American Carol," and Tool of North America, a Santa Monica company that shoots commercials, the Times reported.

One company also received payments from a producer of rave concerts and the University of California.

The University of California, Los Angeles, paid the company $11,248 in 2008 and $13,295 in 2010 to provide drinks at receptions before Coliseum games between UCLA and the University of Southern California, UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton told the Times.

The Coliseum is USC's home stadium.

In addition, the Times said that beginning in 2006, DeStefano was guaranteed a 10 percent cut of contracts between the commission and businesses that advertised at or shot movies, TV programs and commercials at the Coliseum and Sports Arena.

"This was not secretive," James Blatt, an attorney for DeStefano, told the Times. Blatt said DeStefano generated business for the commission and his extra income was justified.

DeStefano quit his job in January. He has denied wrongdoing but remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office and state Fair Political Practices Commission.

The Coliseum's general manager, Patrick Lynch, resigned in February after the Times reported that he had allowed DeStefano to arrange security for Insomniac Inc., promoter of a summer Electric Daisy Carnival event at the Coliseum. A 15-year-old girl who attended the concert overdosed on Ecstasy and later died.